Let’s say you eat 20 doughnuts every day for five years. One day you read about eliminating something called “gluten” from your diet to lose weight. The doughnuts that you live off of are largely composed of this gluten, so you cut these sweet, fluffy concoctions out of your life. The weight falls off right?
Here’s the catch: The gluten in doughnuts is NOT what’s doing harm to your body. You also manage to cut out excess calories, sugar, and fat by eliminating products with gluten.
First things first: What is gluten and who does it affect?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley that affects one in 100 people who are diagnosed with celiac disease; which causes damage to the small intestines when ingested. Common places to find gluten include carbohydrates such as bread, pasta, cereals, and beer.
So why are people without celiac disease losing weight when they go gluten-free?
A gluten–free diet is extremely restrictive.
Gluten is commonly found in high–calorie junk foods and staple foods. Cutting out all gluten containing products results in the elimination of a lot of calories and other ingredients from your daily diet, often leading to nutrient deficiencies. Not to mention, gluten-free packaged products are often filled with extra additives in order to maintain the original taste and texture of the food.
Therefore,
YES, cutting out 20 daily doughnuts is the right choice!
NO, buying packaged gluten–free cookies to replace them is not!
The key to successful weight loss is the type of carbohydrates that you are consuming.
Rather than focusing on gluten, take this approach instead:
Continue to incorporate carbohydrates, but make sure that those carbs come from whole–grain, complex sources rather than refined, simple ones.
Here is a visual to get you started!